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Agreed. We had monsters by level of dungeon tables back in the late '70s. My recent experience with new players has been that the video games taught them bad habits. I've actually had players whine that they couldn’t “save game.” And the Tomb of Horrors was even worse. I ran it in a 2e game...

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146 German philosopher (1844 - 1900)

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_France): How many natural 20s in a row do you suppose that Gabriel Montgomery rolled? And how many natural 1s did King Henry roll in a row? And it was caused by only a sliver of wood, not even a direct lance hit! I've only seen one...

The most fun I've ever had running a D&D game was 1994-1997. That campaign drew heavily from The Crusades and A Mighty Fortress and to a lesser extent Glory of Rome, Vikings, and Celts. Those 5 books are my all-time favorite D&D books, hands down (aside from the core books naturally). I...

Po-tae-to, Po-tah-to Po-tae-to, po-tah-to; to-mae-to, to-mah-to… One man’s cheese is another man’s nourishment, I say! I like evocative names both IRL and in-game. Give me a cheesy corny evocative name any day over some made-up name. Eagle Cliff, Old Man in the Mountain, Bald Mountain, The...

QFT. Nobody hears the apostrophes anyway. Why make it hard on your reader?

1977—OD&D (Chaimail through Gods, Demi-Gods, & Heroes). Only later did I discover Swords & Spells (Chainmail replacement).

I agree that we were incented to dump low scores (and boy did we have them) into stats that we could overcome with role-playing. And that was effectively min/maxing. And given the sheer amount of combat, characters were optimized for that. Charisma was only used for determining the # of...

I agree with most of what is posted here. However, I think the strongest case for "old school" v. "new school" is designing an adventure to challenge the players rather than challenge the characters. As corny as it sounds, 'back in my day we had to explicitly describe how we searched a room...

I'm still looking for real-world experience with using the Reputation and Honor rules. Anyone with any experience? Thanks!

According to the SRD "Lawful characters tell the truth, keep their word, respect authority, honor tradition, and judge those who fall short of their duties. … "'Law' implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability." See...

Brains…! The Undead Plague Part I One night an empty ship crashes into the docks of a major port city. No-one is on board, that is no-one is alive. Contagious carnivorous zombies spew out into the city fouling the air with their breath and clamouring for brains. This plague spreads at an...

I voted 0. Not because myself or my players don't enjoy plot hooks (we do) but because apparently my on-the-fly adventures are much more fun on the whole than anything I've created ahead of time or published modules (with a couple of exceptions). I think what makes the spontaneous adventures...

To paraphrase from Ravenloft, 'Detect evil doesn't work in the Land of the Mists because there is just too much damn evil around!' :p My campaign, Grymwurld has pretty much the same ratios. And yes, slavery is condoned by the state. Paladins have a real dilemma on their hands what with...

Are you arguing that Mediaeval European society was evil? Certainly child-beating, wife-beating, servant-beating, apprentice-beating, serfdom, and oppressive taxes were acceptable. And what about the selling of indulgences? Leading people to believe that paying cash in advance for permission...

I completely agree with you. That's why the whole "creatures aren't evil, only certain actions are evil" argument is absurd. Simply being a "dragon of colour" is a crime worthy of capital punnishment according to D&D morality. As for the garden city dwellers, their actions and choices are...

In the Real Middle Ages™ there were con artists who would sell indulgences. Unlike the real clergy who sold authentic indulgences. In fact papal indulgences was big business in the 14th century. Every sin had a price. Sincere repentance was much less common. And during the witch hysteria...

Hear, hear! I also question why in the world would anyone populate their game worlds with "progressive", utopian if you will, societies?!? Most posters at ENworld that I've read contend that D&D is a game about killing monsters and taking their treasure. Would not a "progressive" society...

IMHO I believe that having the paladin act as judge and jury relying on the deity granted power of detect evil has a much stronger Mediaeval feel than having the paladin learning "to recogize true evil". I like running campaigns with a Mediaeval European morality and ethics. But it appears...

I like to use authentic early music most of the time. Dorian Recordings has some the best IMHO. However, during combat, I crank up classic metal -- Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and sometimes Metallica. I also enjoy using Clannad & Enya for some Celtic scenes. Oh and of course...